General Michael Hayden To Discuss Bin Laden Operation at Spy Conference

Former CIA and NSA director to present keynote speech on Osama Bin Laden operation during the 2011 Raleigh Spy Conference. End Quote

Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC (1888PressRelease) May 14, 2011 - One man sat astride America's two leading intelligence agencies during the long war against terrorism - and he is coming to Raleigh to discuss the operation to locate and kill Usama Bin Laden during the 2011 Raleigh Spy Conference (RSC), to be held August 24-26 at the NC Museum of History in downtown Raleigh.

Retired General Michael Hayden was director of the National Security Agency (NSA) from 1999 to 2005 and director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 2005 to 2009. He presided over the NSA program to monitor technological communications among terrorist groups worldwide -- an initiative that caused acute criticism from human rights activists. At CIA, he defended extreme interrogation, including "waterboarding," again facing down extreme criticism from the media and pressure groups.

"The recent success to track down Bin Laden demonstrates he was correct to stand firm in the maelstrom created by his surveillance and interrogation policies. He was the right man in the right places at the right times, as so often happens at critical junctures in America's unique history," said Raleigh Spy Conference founder and director Bernie Reeves.

Hayden has been the lead go-to guy for the media in the wake of the Bin Laden operation, carried out under the auspices of the Joint Special Operations Command, and implemented by a Navy Sea And Land team (SEAL) in balletic coordination with the CIA and other intelligence agencies and teams.

"And herein lies the real reason the operation was successful," Reeves said. "Under Hayden, the infamous 'walls' that separated military intelligence and ops, the FBI, the CIA, and later the Department of Homeland Security, were torn down, resulting in the nearly seamless op to 'find, fix and finish' Bin Laden, the motto of the clandestine joint command."

Those who attend the 2011 Raleigh Spy Conference will hear the story and be able to ask questions when General Hayden delivers the 2011 RSC keynote address, entitled "Killing Usama Bin Laden: Building A Bridge Pebble by Pebble."

"General Hayden's talk will offer an exclusive opportunity to learn the story of the hunt for Bin Laden from 9-11 to 2011 by the man in the epicenter of events culminating in the successful operation," Reeves said.

Another key figure from the secret world of espionage will open the 2011 Raleigh Spy Conference: Michael Sulick, who, until recently, was the Director of CIA's National Clandestine Service, the "spy of spies."

"In this hyper-sensitive role, Sulick ran the secret ops of the world's most famous spy agency, a task requiring extreme security in an organization that relies on compartmentalization to function," Reeves pointed out. "In other words, an intelligence officer or field agent cannot divulge to his colleagues what he is doing or where. But one man has to know every mission: the Director of The National Clandestine Service, or, as it was called until recently, the Directorate of Operations."

Sulick will be joined by a highly acclaimed roster of speakers to address the original theme of the conference, the sensational role of espionage "illegals," dramatized recently by the 10 Russian "sleeper spies" uncovered last year and deported by the FBI.

"The role of 'illegals' has a long, sometimes treacherous, and often fascinating history," Reeves said, "that will unfold in sessions featuring returning popular RSC speakers Brian Kelley -- retired CIA and the 'wrong man' in the Robert Hanssen case; British espionage expert and author Nigel West; and former Royal Canadian Mounted Police intelligence officer Dan Mulvenna."

The 2011 Raleigh Spy Conference will also launch a new Author's Roundtable featuring Douglas Waller, whose new book Wild Bill Donovan is about the man who founded and ran the Office of Strategic Services during World War 11, the precursor of the CIA. Joining him will be Kent Clizbe, former CIA field operative, whose new book Willing Accomplices is due out this summer. Tentatively scheduled for the event is David Wise, "the dean of intelligence authors," Reeves said, who will discuss his new book Tiger Trap: America's Spy War With China.

Also new this year: The CIA's Historical Collections Division has selected the Raleigh Spy Conference to distribute free to attendees attractive booklets (with accompanying DVDs) containing recently declassified documents on key subjects, including: Korea; the Warsaw Pact; Poland; Air America; and additional hot issues of the past century. The RSC was chosen for this because it is the first event to communicate intelligence data to the general public.

"Now the CIA realizes that educated people really want to know what really happened during major events," Reeves said. "As I have said since the founding of the RSC: No one knows what really happened until it is declassified."

For more information on the 2011 Raleigh Spy Conference and to register to attend, go to www.raleighspyconference.com or call 919-831-0999.

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